Relay, the communications disrupter known for displacing traditional radios, announced Relay It Forward, a national giveback partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) Foundation. Under the program, for every purchase of Relay push-to-talk devices by a hotel, the software company will sponsor a hotel employee’s training and development provided by the Foundation’s Empowering Youth Program, which recruits opportunity youth to entry-level hotel positions. The new partnership aims to prepare the next generation of hotel employees with additional job skills at a time when the industry is beginning to recover from COVID-19 and recruit employees back into the industry.
In a long-term move to restore the critical labor shortfall, Relay It Forward will equip hotel employees with sponsored on-the-job skills led by the AHLA Foundation’s Empowering Youth Program with help from local community-based organizations. The program focuses on “opportunity youth,” young adults ages 16-24 who are out of school and unemployed or underemployed but have the desire and resilience to succeed in the workplace.
Each Relay It Forward sponsorship will either be used towards a certification, job shadowing, or tuition payment to help young professionals find pathways to career opportunities that ultimately lead to lifelong employment. For employers anxious to resume the hiring process, the program increases access to quality talent for in-demand positions and strengthens staff retention year after year.
“Restoring hotels and other hospitality jobs are central to getting our economy back on track. Relay stands with the leisure and hospitality sector to help rebuild and strengthen the industry through investment in the next generation of employees,” said Jon Schniepp, SVP, marketing at Relay. “We’re proud to partner with the largest national philanthropic industry organization in the AHLA Foundation to empower the future hotel workforce with cutting-edge training and workplace innovation.”
“We are extremely grateful for Relay’s investment in our Empowering Youth Program, which is committed to helping opportunity youth find lifelong careers in the hotel industry,” said Rosanna Maietta, president & CEO, AHLA Foundation. “As the industry begins to recover from COVID-19, investing in our industry’s greatest resource – our employees – will be more critical than ever, and generous partners like Relay allow us to do just that.”
Relay is building the next generation of voice-first technology for the deskless workforce through an innovative, durable, and highly adaptive platform accessible on demand across the device, mobile app, and desktop dashboard. The company delivers voice-enabled technology for frontline teams to quickly connect to the people and information they need to get their jobs done safely and more efficiently. Relay has experienced a 1,600 percent growth over the last six months, and recently launched its breakthrough panic button feature to maintain on-the-job safety for workers in hospitality and facilities management as an increased number of state and local panic button mandates come to pass.
Relay is the first corporate donor to form a cause marketing partnership with the AHLA Foundation’s Empowering Youth Program. Launched in 2018 across four cities, the national program has expanded into additional markets including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orlando, and Washington D.C., among others. Relay It Forward will run through the end of this year with an estimated meaningful goal to impact hundreds of young hotel workers.
